Caeleb Dressel has finally broken his two-month silence after withdrawing from June’s World Championships for unspecified reasons. The seven-time Olympic gold medalist wrote on Instagram that he hasn’t swum since Worlds, but he’s been happy without the sport in his life.
“I haven’t swam since worlds and I can honestly say I have been happy without swimming,” Dressel wrote. “I really miss it though.
“A few things I’ve done… I finally went on a honeymoon to Iceland, I bought a tractor, hiked another section of the Appalachian Trail, swam with some manatees.
“I know I can have swimming and happiness. I had them both at one point in my life and I’m working on it. If you need a break, take one.
“I’ll be back,” Dressel added.
While Dressel hasn’t specifically said why he left the World Championships, most in the inner circles of swimming believe it was for mental health reasons. At the 2022 World Championships in July, Dressel was more or less in the form we’ve grown accustomed to seeing him in. He led off the U.S. 4×100 free relay in 47.67, helping the team to a gold medal. He then won gold in the men’s 50 fly with a 22.57. He swam prelims of the 100 free, but then pulled out of semifinals, and subsequently, the rest of the meet.
Notably, his two golds at the World Champs this summer marked his 14th and 15th LC World Championships gold medals of his career.
Dressel had been very quiet on social media since leaving Budapest early, but he’s now confirmed that he’s been taking a break from swimming completely. He hasn’t provided a timetable for his return to the water, but given the final statement, “I’ll be back,” in his IG post this evening we can expect that he will make a return at some point.
The 26-year-old notes in his post that he “finally” went on his honeymoon. He and his wife, Meghan Dressel, got married in February of 2021. It would seem they never went on a honeymoon following their wedding, possibly due to Caeleb’s training in the leadup to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer, or perhaps because of travel restrictions that were still in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or maybe a combination of the two.
Dressel did an interview with Brett Hawke on the Inside with Brett Hawke podcast in May of this year in which he talked in depth about the pressure to perform he was feeling in the leadup to Tokyo. He also discussed how his goal for this year was to find a balance between swimming and his personal life, citing an instance where he left a meet early in February to be with his wife on their one-year wedding anniversary after initially planning to race in the meet.
Spencer Penland contributed to this report.
Every Athlete struggles with their mental health to some degree. Every workout every meet.
He Didn’t have informed advice for sure.
Yeah as a key performer for the US dropping out on the team from the outside is unconscionable No doubt Simone influenced him. This is a trend I fear. US needs to send psychiatrists with the team.
I wonder if he’d been consuming too much caffeine in the form of Pre-Workout. Over the past several years he has sometimes appeared SUPER wired after races—like almost manic. With his big schedule and training load, I can imagine it adding up and affecting the quality (if not also the duration) of his sleep, among other things. I’ve recently started drinking a modest amount of P-W before Masters workouts and I’ve noticed a big impact myself…
People may downvote you, but I noticed the same thing in certain post race interviews. I’ll need to go digging for them.
Thanks, yeah, the post-race interview here (after Duncan Scott’s amazing anchor) is a notable example. Watch Dressel while Murph is speaking. https://youtu.be/IhyfyyP4OjQ
I say this with great affection and concern for Dressel.
What an insane discussion to have. A guy being hyped up at the biggest meets of his life does not correlate to abuse of caffeine in daily life. Quit reaching.
I didn’t speculate about “abuse”; I assume if he was getting too much caffeine it was an unintentional side-effect of an honest attempt to properly use a supplement he reasonably believed to be safe. Again, I have no question about his character or his greatness. I’m asking a question in the hope that it might help him or others.
What he did in Tokyo is very under appreciated.
We rightfully talk about how great Popovici is, but I would say it is unlikely he will ever win 3 individual golds in a single Olympics.
Phelps exceeded 2 Individual Golds twice in 2008 and 2004, Spitz exceeded 2 individual golds once in 1972. Thorpe never did it, Biondi never did it, PVDH never did it, Lochte never did it, Salnikov and Hackett never did it…the list goes on.
I went back as far as 1964 and I couldn’t find another man besides Phelps, Spitz and Dressel to win 3 individual Golds or more. He’s 26…he could retire right now as one of the all time greats. Put some… Read more »
Egerszegi won 100/200 back and 400 IM in 1992, Hosszu won 200/400 IM and 100 back in 2016 just a few examples…
“I went as far back as 1964 and I couldn’t find another MAN”
Keyword: Man
Had there been a full schedule in 64 Scholander would most likely have done it. He won the 100 and the 400 and was the world record holder in the 200, which was not held. He would have been close in the 50 also, but again was not an event.
What if just had to left the competition because he used a bit more substance that is otherwise forbidden for competition? I do not buy this mental health story… especially when I see those photos about traveling to Iceland. He had said “will come back” to reassure the sponsors.
Another candidate for dumbest comment on Swimswam
if it goes on like this, Universal will buy the rights to the story of “3 days in Budapest”
@Braden Keith @Gold Medal Mel Stewart, Is it possible to get him on the pod now that he’s available again?
I would love to hear his perspective on Worlds, his break…
Hopefully, we can see him this December at SC Worlds in Melbourne.
There is a wide gap between issuing a social media statement and being “available.” Here’s the truth: SwimSwam shouldn’t even want Caeleb right now from a journalistic standpoint. There are pointed questions regarding:
1) Pre-Worlds thought about declining Worlds team berth
2) Were there concerns prior, whether in Gainesville or in the training camp that built towards the decision at Worlds?
3) How was the decision to leave Team USA arrived upon?
4) Reservations about leaving a team he’d been voted captain of in the middle of competition
5) What changed between Days 2-3, in which he only collected only golds, that you couldn’t go on
6) Who was aware this would be the decision… Read more »
He’ll talk about all these things eventually. I don’t even know of it would be that clear to him at this point, so I don’t think we need to be like ravenous dogs demanding answers right now
Lay off
They’ll never ask these kinds of hard hitting questions because they might lose access to athletes if they do.
If they’re cutting questions in exchange for future access…we’ll then they’ve already lost.
Surely, NBC will play gatekeeper and make sure these questions never get asked on camera. He’ll probably be asked “why did you leave WC early” once in a very controlled/friendly manner, where he’ll have a prepared/articulate/satisfactory answer that’ll satisfy casual viewers. This will be the “official” answer that gets circulated in most media.
Foreign media (probably Australia) will probably ask the real questions, and likely won’t get the answer they’re looking for.
Gatekeeper may be played, but not by NBC.
If he gets asked to discuss the medicinal problem he will probabaly give the same answer Austin Staab gave when he came back “no”.
Honestly dude just needs a break, anyone who has worked a stressful job 12 hours plus a day for 5 years straight can relate.
Wouldn’t mind him talking about farm life and that tractor.
Most excellent. I wish I could upvote this comment a few more times.
There’s a 0% chance he will return to competition this year. The SC Worlds isn’t even a particularly important meet in the grand scheme of things. And Chalmers obviously has the upper hand in that context, being the defending champion and WR holder.
Dressel may resume training over the holiday break, I suppose. It’s much more likely that he starts training again sometime in 2023, with a focus on a lighter schedule for the 2023 WCs in Fukuoka (probably the 50 free and 50 fly individually, plus relays).
Miressi is defending champion at SC Worlds. Chalmers headed back to Australia early to have surgery.
Another surgery? How is this guy an elite athlete 🤦♂️
How did you miss that news? He had one shoulder done pre-Tokyo and the other done after. That’s why he was uncertain to even compete at WCs this year.
Yes and now he is having another one?
I was talking about SC worlds last year. As far as I know Chalmers’ shoulders are fine at the moment.
What kind of conversations do national federations have with their athletes after the Olympics? Do they have serious conversations about taking a break, looking after themselves etc.?
It seems like post-Olympic years are quite disastrous for a lot of athletes
He trying to do his full schedule after a 2-year Olympic year, which seems unwise considering the state that he was obviously in from his media appearances before these worlds
Seems like it might have been a lot smarter to have him just do 50s and maybe one of the relays where they actually needed him to win. Or just skip these worlds
Mental health is ALWAYS n.1 priority, no question about this. Many legends of many sports have taken a break, that’s fine. But what is unprecedented is that someone stops DURING the competition ( and behaving very amateurishly by not saying anything for 2 months ). Being a legend of a sport requires having a superior talent, a superior work ethic and a superior mind. If you cannot end a competition you started I’m sorry but I cannot put you in the same category of other legends.
Something similar but different for other reasons can be said about Titmus : ‘one of the reasons I won’t swim at Worlds is because i want to avoid the pressure of racinc Katie… Read more »
And some of those people you listed took to drug taking, seriously abusing line judges, accusing umpires of cheating, upsetting the first time winner of a major, drinking and driving, abusing teammates…….the list goes on. Dressel and Titmus did none of those things as far as we know. I know which legends I prefer to admire thanks.
Those were mistakes. But giving up IN THE MIDDLE of a World Championship in unprecedented. And don’t forget the 2 months of silence, such an amateurish and childish behaviour, that was the worse. So you may not want to admit it, but Caeleb has lost a lot of respect in the swimming community for these 2 actions, you know this is true.
It’s true. I had to cancel my Dressel bobblehead pre-order due to his actions.
Unprecedented… maybe in swimming, but not in sports considering Simone Biles just quit for similar reasons in the middle of the Olympics. When does Caeleb get his Presidential Medal of Honor?
Except that Biles stayed there to support its teammates and actually continued the Olympic racing in beam. And in gymnastics you are really doing very dangerous stuff, so if you loose control on your mind you can be seriously injured. But in swimming???
Yes, compairing Biles situation to Dressel’s is apples and oranges. And true, the only thing Dressel was going to get from staying quiet this long was more attention to it. He handled it poorly.
I don’t think it’s necessary to bring Titmus’s “legendary” status into this at all. I think she’s very talented but don’t consider her one of the “legends” at this point, but she certainly could be.
Whether or not she becomes one will certainly not be decided by her decision to skip a slapped together world champs.
Very prominently, Simone Biles pulled out during competition. She didn’t remain silent though.
Ok but Simone Biles would have literally risked her life because she could not have the space perspective ( twisties ) and could end up landing on her head.
That’s totally different and she had a valid reason to opt out, Caeleb did not.
What I simply mean is that you are a champion not only by your results, but by the way you behave. Jesse Owens may not be the fastest ever, but winning gold in Nazi Germany in front of Hitler who considered him a monkey is something beyond amazing, who defines what kind of mental strenght he had. For that reason too he is a legend in the Mount Olympus.
So for me quitting in… Read more »
Simone Biles did so much for mental health awareness by talking about it. She got up in front of a million microphones and faced the music.
Caeleb hid.
Caeleb has every right to make decisions based on his mental health. But he hasn’t done anything great for the mental health movement by not saying a word about it. I’m sure when he comes back he’ll have a Talkspace sponsorship and then he’ll be happy to discuss it.
just because an elite athlete discloses that they struggle with their mental health doesn’t mean that they’re required to become some kind of spokesperson or advocate.
Yeah but just because an athlete discloses that they struggle with their mental health doesn’t mean they get a presidential medal of freedom for it. That was the original comment. Your reply takes my response out of the context it was written in.